A variety of techniques have been attempted to improve the delivery of fluids for the purpose of washing, cleaning or removing contaminants from the surfaces of component parts. The prior techniques require a part such as an engine, cylinder head, transmission valve body, ABS brake proportioning valve, etc., to be transferred from the rough machining operation into a washing chamber where fixed high pressure jets apply washing solutions to various areas of the part. The configuration of the directed fluid streams can only impact areas of the machined surfaces and gross external surfaces and internal surface areas. Internal passageways such as oil galleys, water jackets, deep tapped bolt holes present a unique problem in that any fluid directed at these cavities will eventually be stagnated by the placement of the fluid in an area where it has no outlet. Following the wash cycle, there is usually a rinse cycle which repeats this process and then a drying cycle. Each of these cycles requires considerable equipment which could include machines performing a “shake-out” and alternately repositioning of the part to remove loosened debris. Within the part, there are many areas which contain crevices and drilled holes that tend to capture small chips that current techniques often will not remove.
The equipment used in the current process employed by industry occupies considerable floor space due to the size of most production systems. This precludes an in-line arrangement of the machines, therefore a “batch” handling and a on-pass solution has been employed.
Batch handling is not economically efficient nor desired within the confines of the modem lean manufacturing principles.
Traditional washers require considerable energy to heat the chemicals prior to use, considerable amounts of expensive to generate compressed air, and high costs for surface cooling of the parts and the difficulties in maintaining chemical balance and waste water disposal.
Existing systems have been expanded to incorporate high pressure delivery of the fluids with considerable down time as well as expense associated with repairs and maintenance of the critical components.
Currently employed practices are ineffective to clean the internal critical passageways of the parts.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a cleaning and drying process and apparatus which is effective to remove debris from internal passages with reduced use of compressed air.
It is further object to provide such apparatus which utilizes less floor space, can clean parts as a subassembly with a number of parts installed, and provide continuous high speed cleaning with an in-line arrangement of machines.